Legacy
by justme6565
Summary: "'So let's promise each other something.' 'What' 'That we won't let the legacy of our parents define us.'" When they were teenagers, they'd made a promise to each other. He broke it. Tenzin/Lin. Rated T for Language and minor references.


He remembered the conversation often-and recalled its every detail: the way he sat on the grass-legs crossed, back straight, as his father had taught him-and the way she sat, more relaxed, elbow resting on her knee as she gazed out into the bay while she spoke to him. She was almost sixteen; he, seventeen.

* * *

"_You know how we keep saying how hard it is to bear the legacy of our parents?"_

"_Mmm." He nodded in response._

_"What if we don't have to?"_

_ "What do you mean?"_  
_ "What if it's not just about maintaining what our parents started? What if we could-what if it's our job-to redefine it?"_  
_ "I'm not sure I understand you, Lin."_  
_ "You know how I've been worried for years since the accident that I wouldn't be able to Earthbend like my mom, that I wouldn't be able to live up to her? What if my job's not to live up to her? What if it's to take what she's taught me and improve it?"_  
_ "Improve it...?"_  
_ "And you know how you keep saying it's your job to maintain the legacy of the Airbenders? What if it's not about maintaining an outdated legacy? What if it's about creating a new tradition from the old one?"_  
_ "Lin..."_  
_ "Let me put it into terms you can understand, Airhead. Why do you think the Avatar is reborn every generation? Why isn't it just one immortal person?"_  
_ "I never thought about it..."_  
_ "Because every generation improves upon the last one! It _recreates, _Airhead! That's our job-recreate and revitalize the path of our ancestors! Not lug around their legacy, but create our own to help the world with what they gave us!"_  
_ "Lin, that's...that's ingenious."_  
_ "So let's promise each other something."_  
_ "What?"_  
_ "That we won't let the legacy of our parents define us."_

* * *

He had agreed, despite his brief moment of hesitation-because at the time it _had_ sounded brilliant and attainable. And for years he'd held to his promise with her, (and he wondered, now, in retrospect, if it was _for_ her as well), but part of him thought-_knew_-that that was in part because legacy had no opportunity to consume him consciously during those precious years. There was his duty, yes, but there was his father to withhold his own legacy and there was also-mostly-her. Her fiery will in perfect balance with her steadfast stoicism. Her unbreakable, strong spirit of determination. And yet a certain...tenderness? No that was the wrong word. There was nothing tender—even then—about Lin Beifong. But there was something so remarkably beautiful about her, especially in those years, but rather than the traditional feminine beauty that came from vulnerability, from weakness, her beauty came from her unwillingness to yield, her stubbornness, her strength.

And yet they were destined never to work. His airy spirit could never match her strong one. A part of him argued that their scenarios were completely different, that her choice was not his, her duty not nearly as important…but what was that really? Arrogance? A minority superiority complex? Overcompensation? Regardless, the rest of him knew that he simply wasn't as strong as she was, not as rooted to the ground, too easily blown with the wind.

* * *

"_It's not my fault! It's a fact of my biology, Tenzin!"_

_He winced. It was the first time in twenty years she had called him by his given name and it sounded foreign, toxic, on her tongue. "I'm not blaming you, Lin."_

"_No, you're just punishing me!"_

"_I—don't think of it that way!"_

"_Oh, then how should I think of it?"_

"_I'm doing my duty for my father!"_

"_Please. Don't pull that card with me."_

"_Well, what would you like me to say?"_

"_I don't know. Just leave, if you're going to go!"_

"_Lin…"_

"_And tell the little Acolyte bitch—what's her name? Pema?—hello for me. Or won't you have any time to tell her anything with all the rolling around you'll be doing? Because that's clearly all that matters to you."_

"_Lin, don't do this…"_

_She silenced him with a hand. "You know what? You broke our promise, Tenzin. You've let your dad's shadow define you."_

"_You took your mother's job when she passed!"_

"_But not because it was hers, and that's the difference! I'm good at what I do, Tenzin. I invented a new style of Metalbending that my force uses—I earned my title as Chief. I've added to what my mother started, true, but I've made it mine! _You _on the other hand, just want to withhold an outdated tradition instead of making it new—and instead of living your life, you're living Daddy's!"_

_ "Stop it, Lin!"_

_ "I hope a few spawn are worth trading who you are for!"_

* * *

And a part of him knew that she was right, but what could he possibly do about it, except what he'd always done—uphold his father's legacy. Govern the city his father built. Father three children who would sustain the race of his father. Teach others about said race's culture to keep it alive. Eat, sleep, and breath for his late father.

And train the new Avatar in Airbending. Fine. Simple enough. But he hadn't predicted her firey will, hand't predicted her headstrong strength, hadn't predicted her unwillingness to yield, her stubbornness. He hadn't expected that when he delayed her training to protect his City—to protect his father's dream—that she would follow, refusing to take no for an answer.

* * *

"_Katara agreed with me that I should come. She said my destiny was in Republic City."_

"_Don't bring my mother into this!"_

Because he knew what his mother would have told her—he'd told it to him and his siblings an infinite number of times when they were children.

"_It's time for you and your generation to take on the responsibility of keeping peace and balance in the world_."

* * *

He had thought that that had meant preserving his father's dream, but as he looked from the statue of his father—madly powerful and watching over Republic City, to the girl across the boat from him, staring at the city—_her _city—longingly, he remembered what Lin had told him when they were children, and he realized that it was no longer—had never truly been—his place to do his father's job. It was his duty to bring new life to it, and he'd failed that. But he could pass it to the next generation, allow it to that which he'd been able to do: return balance to his home.

"_I have done my best to guild Republic City towards the dream my father had for it. But you are right; it has fallen out of balance since he passed. I thought I should put off your training in order to uphold his legacy—but you are his legacy."_

He wondered if Lin would notice; he'd returned to his promise.


End file.
